Growing up as a first-generation Latina, my family always taught me the importance of working hard to become independent, self-sufficient, and self-reliant. My family worked hard to give me the blessing of a good education to help me pursue my passion for becoming a physician. I went to an all-girls high school where our motto was "Forward Thinking Women". I was so grateful to be a part of this community because they taught me how important it is, as a woman, to become a fearless, compassionate, and well-rounded individual. I want to prove that even as a first-generation woman, greatness can be achieved regardless of what others think and this is what motivates me. Ever since I was a little girl, I knew I always wanted to be a physician but in the back of my mind, I always doubted if that was possible for a girl like me. In my head, people who become physicians have a wealthy families and have multiple connections to people of higher status. As I grew up, I realized that I only have one life and I need to build my life without any regrets, I need to push myself to become the person I want to be. My family would tell me the importance of being prepared because life isn't fair and the world can be cruel at times. I realized the truth in this statement when my mom became diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer in 2020. The woman who I saw as my rock, my confidante, and my main motivator was taken four short months after this diagnosis. After this event, I have worked hard to show her that I am capable of becoming who I want to be. During her time at the hospital, I admired the physicians and healthcare staff who showed true care and compassion to my mother. Their impact on her and my family was tremendous and I will always be grateful for them. The kind of impact they made on me and my family is the kind of impact that I hope to be on others. After my mother passed, the emotional and financial burdens have become difficult. I do my best to afford school while also helping my father with other household bills. Despite these challenges, my main motivation to confront gender disparity is to show the world how capable women are. Capable of being powerful forces while still having the most gentle, kind spirits. I hope to become the kind of physician who positively impacts those around me. I want to be there for people in their darkest moments and their moments of pure happiness. I want to show Mother what a wonderful daughter she raised, a daughter who helps others become the best version of themselves.

Growing up, my parents raised me to the best of their abilities. My mother, an immigrant from Mexico, and my father, a first-generation Mexican American. They worked hard to give me a roof over my head, food on the table, and most importantly, education and for that, I am forever grateful. As a first-generation college graduate, there were many aspects of college that I had to navigate myself but this taught me patience and perseverance. I was given the opportunity to educate myself and choose what I wanted to pursue as a career. Ever since I can remember, I have always loved taking care of people, listening to them, and helping them feel better whether that was helping the teachers take care of the preschoolers or hugging someone when they had a bad day. In the back of my mind, I always dreamed of becoming a doctor but this dream seemed unrealistic and almost out of reach. During college, I chose to pursue a degree in Kinesiology in hopes of obtaining a career in another healthcare-related field. Right before COVID, during my sophomore year at college, my family received gut-wrenching news that my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. At this point, school was not the focus and all of my attention was geared toward my mother. My family and I did all we could to save her and create a positive environment but in just 4 short months, she was gone. Losing a parent was something that I never thought would happen to me, she was a healthy lady who had the brightest smile and was always the most positive person. After my mother passed, I had a lot of time to think since during this time everyone was locked down due to COVID. I thought to myself, if there was one thing I wanted to do in my lifetime it would be to help people. Help people become healthy individuals, help sick individuals become healthy, help people live life with quality, and most of all, help people so that they have more time with their loved ones. I want to show my mother that her hard work was not taken for granted, which is why I am now completing the prerequisite classes I need to one day apply to medical school to become a physician. Although I am a busy college student, I plan on one day creating a nonprofit for children like me who have lost a parent and are struggling both mentally and financially. I am a lucky girl to have a father who has been nothing but supportive of me but I know that this is not the case for others. I want to support passionate kids like me to chase their dreams and to do good for themselves and especially, for others. I wish I had more time with my mother but I know she would be so proud of the young woman that I am today. I want to keep her spirit alive and give to others like I know she would if she were still on this Earth.

I always knew I wanted to have a career in the medical field. For some reason or another, I just gravitated toward this field. It wasn't until March 8th, 2020 that I knew exactly what I not only wanted but needed to do in my life. About 5 months before this date my mother began to feel ill. My father and I took her to the hospital where they did numerous studies, they sent her home and told her that it was pneumonia. A couple of days later, she was back in the hospital and after multiple biopsies and scans, she was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. My mother was a healthy individual who never smoked or had any past family medical history so this was a shock to us all. There are no words to describe how you feel when you hear that news and I can't even imagine how much hurt this news caused my mother. You never think that such devastating news will ever happen to you until it does. During this entire process, I saw how involved her physician was with her care. He was always there and I could tell how much he truly cared for my mother and our family. Unfortunately, my mother was taken home on hospice and passed away on March 8th, 2020. No words can describe how much of a blessing she was (and still is) to me. She gave everything so that I could have a better life and for that, I feel in debt to show her that I want to help people as our physician did for her. Soon after she passed, COVID struck the world and became a pandemic, my school had switched to online and I did all I could to catch up since I was absent during the time my mother was battling cancer. With the help of my amazing professors, I was able to successfully finish the semester and I graduated as a first-generation college student with Cum Laude honors on May 24th, 2022 (which also happened to be my mother's birthday). Soon after, it became difficult to afford the cost of living in southern California and my dad decided it would be good for us to start a new chapter. He was stationed here in Texas when he was a Marine and he has always wanted to live amongst the land. Fast forward, here we are! I am currently attending Houston Community College where I am taking my prerequisite classes to apply to medical school and my dad is doing his best to navigate through life without my mother. It has been a difficult journey, to say the least, but my mother's passing has taught me to live every day to the fullest and to be grateful for the life I live. My dream is to become a physician and do my very best to give people the ability to live healthy lives so they can spend more time doing what they love, living life, spending time with their loved ones, etc. I have been working part-time and going to school full-time since I was 17 years old. I have paid for college by myself and would greatly appreciate your support. Thank you for offering this scholarship to help students like me who have had difficult journeys!

Growing up, I never had a "normal" family life. My parents divorced when I was 3 years old since then I was always going back and forth between homes. Although this wasn't normal for others, it was normal for me. Both of my parents eventually remarried and at 18 years old my mother decided that it was time for me to create more stability in my life and she asked me to choose between herself and my father. Although it seemed harsh at the time, I knew it would create a structure for not only me but my parents as well. It was a difficult and sad choice to make but in the end, I chose my mother. My mother and I grew to be the closest we've ever been, in my heart she was always my best friend but I never showed it as much as I did now. She always made time for me no matter how busy or tired she was. She worked hard to give me a better life and with her help, I can proudly say that I am a first-generation college student. About one year later in November 2019, she began to feel ill one night, my stepdad and I drove her to the hospital where the diagnosis was pneumonia and she was sent home with medication. A couple of days later, she ended up at the hospital where she stayed for about 2 weeks and what we thought was pneumonia turned into something way more advanced. She was told that she had Stage IV Lung Cancer and that she only had a couple of months to live. Of course, I knew inside that she was completely devastated but she didn't shed a tear, instead she looked at the doctor with a small smile and said, "Well thank you for helping me doctor, I really appreciate you". She fought but lost her battle in March 2020, the same month that COVID became a major factor in the world. The whole year of 2020 was a total blur but somehow I persevered and stayed in school, getting all A's that semester. I always knew I wanted to be in the medical field and it started with wanting to become a nurse which then escalated to wanting to become a physician assistant. There has always been a small part of me that wanted to become a physician but I was always scared and never truly believed in myself. After the passing of my mom, I learned how precious life is and there are no second chances. She always told me that hard work pays off and she was the only person in the world who made me feel like I can do anything I put my mind to. Being her only daughter, I was her world and now that she has passed, I want to make her the proudest mother in the world. I graduated in 2022 with my Bachelor's Degree in Kinesiology and I am now taking my prerequisite classes to apply to medical school. Not only do I want to make my mother proud, but I also want to help others like our physician helped my mother. I will never forget the kindness and support that he provided for my family and especially my mother. He became such a significant figure in my life and after my mother passed away, I started volunteering at the same hospital. On one of my shifts, I saw him and went up to him to tell him how thankful I was for him, we cried together as we both remembered the moments in that hospital. Although it will be 3 years since my mother passed in March 2023, it feels like it was just yesterday and I miss her every single day. The pain in my heart will never go away but I am a part of her and her spirit will always live inside of me. If there is anything I do in this life, it is to dedicate my life to her and show her that her sacrifices were worth it. People say life is short but I never truly understood that until my mother passed away at the age of 47. I thought I had so much more time to spend with my mother yet she was taken away so fast. Time is precious and I am truly grateful for every day I have on this Earth. Any chance I get, I help others and I would be so grateful to do this as a physician in the future.

Ever since I was a little girl, I have always been the caretaker and I have always been able to sympathize with others. My mom would tell me stories about how I would help the teachers take care of the other children in my class when they got hurt or when they weren't feeling well. I have always had that sort of instinct when it came to caring for others. I believe this instinct comes from my family. I have always been proud of my Hispanic family background and as I get older, I start to realize more and more all of the sacrifices it took for my parents to get me to where I am today. With the help of my parents, I was able to attend college and complete my Bachelor of Science degree despite many obstacles. My parents taught me to push through the obstacles in life and always strive to better myself and help others. I can see how much they have struggled and that gives me so much motivation to pursue a career where I can help others. I completed my Bachelor's degree in 2022 and since then I have been taking prerequisite classes to apply to medical school in the future, with hopes of one day becoming a physician. I always knew that I wanted to pursue a career in medicine but there was one event that truly made me want to move forward with becoming a physician. In November of 2019, right before the pandemic began, my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. It devastated the whole family and we couldn't believe that something like this would happen to someone as kind and caring as my mother. Unfortunately, she passed away a couple of months later at the age of 47. It has been very difficult but as a proud Hispanic mother, she taught me to be strong. That's exactly what I've been doing ever since she passed. I push through obstacles in front of me and find positivity in every day. I learned that time is the most important thing we have on this Earth and that we need to spend it wisely. My mother never cried or felt bad for herself during the time she was ill, she is the strongest person I know and much of what I do is in her honor. After her passing, my dad and I moved out of state to lower our cost of living. I have been working and going to school to pursue my dream of being a physician. I am a hard worker just like my mom and the rest of our family, they taught me that nothing in life comes easy and that hard work pays off in the end. Thank you, Erika Campos

Ever since I was a little girl, I have always been the caretaker and I have always been able to sympathize with others. My mom would tell me stories about how I would help the teachers take care of the other children in my class when they got hurt or when they weren't feeling well. I have always had that sort of instinct when it came to caring for others. I knew I wanted to be in the medical field but didn't know what path to choose until I got to college. One event changed my mind and fueled the fire for me to become a physician. In November of 2019, right before the pandemic began, my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. This came as a shock to the whole family. My mother was an active woman who never smoked a day in her life, she was the most positive person with a smile on her face wherever she went. I was devastated and stayed with her in the hospital when she became ill. Never once did I see my mother cry or feel bad for herself when she was sick. She is the strongest person I know and now I can carry that strength throughout my life because of her. Unfortunately, my mother passed just a couple of months after her diagnosis and it made me realize how precious time is. My family and I came up with a slogan during my mother's time battling cancer and it was "The Fight for Time". We all realized how important time is and how we would do anything to spend more time with her and how she would benefit from gaining more time for her to experience more life. My mother was 47 years old, I'm sure there was more she wanted to do and see in life. She taught me to wake up every day and choose happiness because we have so little time on this Earth, we need to spend our time wisely. This event is what inspired me to pursue a career in medicine. I want to be able to give people more time to do what makes them happy and to have a healthy quality of life while doing so. As a first-generation student, I have come a long way to get to where I am. I have had a lot of help along the way but I have pushed myself to pursue my dreams. In the future, I plan to work with the underprivileged community. I plan to open my own practice and treat everyone equally, doing my very best to ensure everyone gets more time to do what they want in life.

COVID-19 was a shock to the whole world and affected people in ways that seemed unimaginable. I am the type of person who seeks positivity in negative situations and I'll be honest, it was difficult to find that during this time. In November of 2019, right before the pandemic began, my mother was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer. This came as a shock to the whole family. My mother was an active woman who never smoked a day in her life, she was the most positive person with a smile on her face wherever she went. This in itself was detrimental to my family and especially to me, being an only child with divorced parents. My mother was my everything and she was the person who taught me to be kind and compassionate to others. Unfortunately, she passed just a couple of months later in March 2020, right when the chaos began with the pandemic. I have never had a close death in the family so I never truly realized what it took to plan the services and all that went along with it. Her funeral was the last in our county that people were able to attend. While mourning the loss of my mother and doing my best to adjust to life without her, the school had changed to online only and I missed interacting with my friends. Staying at home with little to no interaction with others and mourning the loss of my mother was something that I do not wish upon anyone. It was just my stepdad and I now and we had our battles without my mother but he has always been there to support me. With the help of my stepdad, I was able to finish off the semester with all A's. I truly don't know how I was able to push through but I did it! Since then, my stepdad sold our house and we moved out of state due to the lower cost of living. I was able to finish my bachelor's degree in science as a first-generation college student and am now taking prerequisite classes to apply to medical school. After the passing of my mother, my desire to become a physician is stronger than ever. My perspective on life has changed after the passing of my mother and COVID-19, I learned that time is precious and we should all spend it wisely. Since then, I do my best to be positive in every situation and not take anything for granted. I am currently working at the hospital and still taking extra classes in hopes of being accepted into medical school and pursuing my dreams to give people the chance to have more time and spend it living healthy lives with their friends and family.